Versailles Favorites

Favorite thing: Tourists planning to visit Versailles in the next months should know that from 14/09 till 12/12/2010 there is inside the castle a special exhibition of 22 works from Takashi Murakami.

From what I read in the French quality newspaper "Le Monde" Mr. Murakami is a "avatar japonais du pop art américain" and that "Hors des écrins adaptés des galeries ou des musées d'art contemporain, le travail du japonais apparaît enfin dans toute sa lumière : grotesque".

From what I saw in the French media it seems that there is indeed, to say it in a diplomatic way, some opposition between the classical Louis XIV décor of the Grands Appartements, Galerie des Glaces, the gardens and the work of Takashi Murakami.
Consequently if you are not a fan of mixing classical art and pop art and if you want to see the Royal apartments without foreign objects disturbing the perspective it's better to wait with your visit.

For the full comment see: Le Monde 15/09/10 Critique - Un Versailles pour petites filles en fleurs.

Favorite thing: The most common European emergency number 112 (following Directive 2002/22/EC: Universal Service Directive) and also standard on GSM mobile phones. 112 is used in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom in addition to their other emergency numbers.

Here are some useful phone numbers that you might need while in France:

Police: 17
Hospital-based Ambulance (SAMU): 15
Fire Service-based Ambulance: 18
Fire: 18, 112 calls are answered by 15 or 18 dispatchers, depending on the caller's location. 115 for homeless.

Favorite thing: Surfing the internet i have found this great website containing a lot of information about place to visit in France with a lot of local information about places, what to do, etc...

http://www.francethisway.com/

Favorite thing: To get into the mood for Versailles and for a little background information, you might rent one or more of the following movies:

The best one I've seen is Ridicule, a story of a French nobleman who went to Versailles to beg King Louis' favor to assist in ridding his town of mosquitoes and ended up getting sucked into the life of a courtier. Lots of witty dialogue, subtitled in French.

Tale of Two Cities with Chris Sarandon playing the dual role of the hero and redeemed anti hero, this is made for Masterpiece Theater quality (ie it wouldn't have made money at the box office) but it's a great story by Charles Dickens and set during the French Revolution.

Marie Antoinette was a critic's darling, I thought it was an OK movie just couldn't bear watching Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI, I firmly believe he would never have cracked into show biz if not for the Coppola connection. Anyways, it's almost entirely set at Versailles and was actually filmed there so it's worth a watch just for that.

I would not recommend Affair of the Necklace even though it is set in the time of Marie Antoinette, Hillary Swank was utterly ridiculous in the lead role and after I watched the movie I looked up the real history of her character and it was far more interesting than the Hollywoodization that takes place, the movie tries to make her out to be a heroine when it fact she was nothing of the sort.

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Favorite thing: Once I arrived at Versailles I had in mind to visit and see it all. I wanted entry for every building and every part of the garden. I learned that only for €20.- I could by a Day Pass, which gave me priority access to the entire Domain of Versailles, to several audioguided and non-guided visits, to several exhibitions.

I had a full access to many places like:
▪ King’s State Apartments (with Hall of Mirrors);
▪ Queen’s State Apartments;
▪ King’s chamber;
▪ Chapel and 17th-century galleries;
▪ History of France Galleries;
▪ Dauphin’s Apartments, the heir to the throne;
▪ Grand Trianon;
▪ Marie-Antoinette Estate.

I only missed out on the Mesdames’ Apartments, Louis XV’s daughters, because they are only open at week-ends. So do buy this pass ... it's worth your money!

Fondest memory: This ticket was valid for the whole day… I really enjoyed the freedom to organize my visit the way I wanted to, without painful waiting in lines. And whenever I saw a line in front of something I simply adjusted my scedule and was free to visit it on a later time.

Also have a look at Versailles Tourist Office website.

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Favorite thing: When you pass the exterior gate you will have on the left (photo 1) a red panel indicating < Billets - Tickets > where you have to buy your ticket. On the right of that panel stands one with indication < A > this entrance is for all individuals having a ticket or a Paris museum pass.
There is no gate C anymore for the Paris Museum Pass in contradiction with what your will read on the Paris museum pass and previous info from Versailles website. On the extreme right is the entrance for groups.
As more and more visitors buy their ticket in advance you find already a line at 9 hour at the opening at the gate . Here visitors pass in a prefab "pavilion" with 3 detector frames (photo 2). They check your bag.
From here you can go where you want, usually the circuit of the "Château de Versailles" with the highlights "Galerie des Glaces" and "Chambre du Roi".

The crowds at the Château de Versailles attain a maximum in summer season, by nice weather as it is no fun to visit the kilometres of gardens in the rain, and on Tuesday when the Louvre is closed.

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ENTRER AU CHATEAU.
Il y a des modifications qui ne sont pas mentionnées sur le site web du Château de Versailles.
En passant la grille extérieure vous verrez à votre gauche le panneau rouge "Billets - Tickets" qui dirige vers la file pour acheter le billet d'entrée.
Juste à droite se trouve un panneau rouge "Individuels avec billets, sur réservation, visiteurs munis de pass".
Il n'y a plus d'entrée spéciale pour les visiteurs munis du Paris Museum Pass bien que cela figure encore sur les informations web et les imprimés.
Comme de plus en plus de visiteurs achètent leur billet à l'avance il y a des files à l'entrée < A > dès l'ouverture à 9 h.
Par cette file < A > les visiteurs passent dans le pavillon de sécurité où se trouvent 3 portiques de détection. Le contenu des sacs est vérifié à la main. Passé la sécurité le visiteur peut se diriger ver les circuits habituels très encombrés les jours d'affluence ou le parc.

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Favorite thing: Now, this is part of the history, something that apparently really happened.

On August 10 1901, in the gardens of the Petit Trianon, two female academics, Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, both from educated backgrounds, experienced a time slip, and saw Marie Antoniette and other people from the same perios.
After some time, they published their work in a book called An Adventure.

If you want to know more about this history, here's an interesting website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moberly-Jourdain_incident

Favorite thing: Below you will find few useful words you can use while traveling in Fance:

Yes/No = Oui/Non
Yes, please/No, thank you = Oui, s'il vous plaît/Non, merci
Please = S'il vous plaît
Thank you = Merci (madame/monsieur)
You're welcome = Il n'y a pas de quoi
Here is/are = Voici...
Hello/Good morning/afternoon = Bonjour, (madame/monsieur)
Hello/Good evening = Bonsoir (madame/monsieur)
Goodbye = Au revoir
Good night = Bonne nuit
How are you? = Comment allez-vous?
Very well, thanks = Très bien, merci
Excuse me = Excusez-moi
Do you speak English? = Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?
Can you help me? = Est-ce que vous pouvez m'aider?
I don't understand. = Je ne comprends pas.
I don't know. = Je ne sais pas.
Could you please write it down = Est-ce que vous pouvez l'écrire?
Sorry = Désolé(e)
Where? = Où?
When? = Quand?
How? = Comment?
Why? = Pourquoi?
Who? = Qui?
Which? = Lequel?/Laquelle?
Where is...? = Où est...?
How much? = Combien?
How many? = Combien?
What's that? = Qu'est-ce que c'est?
I like it. = Ça me plaît.
I don't like it. = Ça ne me plaît pas.
OK/Agreed. = Ça va/d'accord.
That's fine. = C'est bien.